The present invention relates to a strain relief device and, more particularly, to a device for providing strain relief for a cable extending into a connector.
It has long been recognized that some type of strain relief device is desirable or even necessary to secure a cable extending into a connector. Otherwise, strain imposed on the cable due to applied tension or other severe movement may impair the connection of the cable within the connector or entirely separate the cable from the connector. Therefore, a wide variety of strain relief devices have been devised for use in conjunction with cables extending into connectors.
While strain relief devices have been utilized to secure conductors terminated in electrical connectors, more recent technological developments have indicated significant need in the area of fiber optics. The development of fiber optic communication lines made up of optically-conductive fibers arranged to form a flexible cable for conveying light from one location to another has led to increasing use in recent years. The applications have varied although one particularly significant application has been conveying data from one location to another by modulating a light source with data to be transmitted at one end of the cable and recovering the data at the other end of the cable by a photo-sensitive detector. Since the data is conveyed by a medium not subject to radio frequency interference or detection, fiber optic communication lines are particularly well adapted for applications requiring a high degree of security like those found in the data processing field.
With the increasing use of fiber optic communication lines, the need developed for strain relief devices capable of providing efficient strain relief to protect the optically-conductive fibers. It has also been found desirable to provide an environmental seal for fiber optic connectors and for the fiber optic cables extending into them for various applications. Although strain relief and environmental seal requirements have been known, the need has remained for a suitable device for providing strain relief for a fiber optic cable having an optical fiber terminated in a fiber optic connector and for providing an environmental seal about the fiber optic cable rearwardly of the optical fiber termination in the fiber optic connector.
While the art of fiber optic connectors is still developing, connector pin assemblies are generally available today for terminating the optical fibers of a cable so that they are concentrically and accurately aligned within accepted tolerances. More recently, there has been a growing interest in, and recognition of the need for, developing suitable strain relief devices for use with fiber optic connectors. This interest has been spawned primarily by the need to protect the optical fibers of a fiber optic cable while at the same time, in some applications, providing an environmental seal. More particularly, strain relief devices have been sought which operate to protect the fiber optic cable against damage caused by strain imposed on the cable by tension or other severe movement. Although strain relief requirements have been known, the need has remained for a strain relief device capable of protecting a fiber optic cable while at the same time providing a good environmental seal.